Affordable housing in outer space: Scientists develop cosmic concrete
from space dust and astronaut blood

Date:
September 13, 2021
Source:
University of Manchester
Summary:
Transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than a million
British pounds -- making the future construction of a Martian colony
seem prohibitively expensive. Scientists have now developed a way
to potentially overcome this problem, by creating a concrete-like
material made of extra-terrestrial dust along with the blood,
sweat and tears of astronauts.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than a million British
pounds -- making the future construction of a Martian colony seem
prohibitively expensive. Scientists at The University of Manchester have
now developed a way to potentially overcome this problem, by creating
a concrete-like material made of extra-terrestrial dust along with the
blood, sweat and tears of astronauts.


==========================================================================
In their study, published today in Materials Today Bio, a protein
from human blood, combined with a compound from urine, sweat or tears,
could glue together simulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material
stronger than ordinary concrete, perfectly suited for construction work
in extra-terrestrial environments.

The cost of transporting a single brick to Mars has been estimated
at about US$2 million, meaning future Martian colonists cannot bring
their building materials with them, but will have to utilise resources
they can obtain on-site for construction and shelter. This is known
as in-situ resource utilisation (or ISRU) and typically focusses on
the use of loose rock and Martian soil (known as regolith) and sparse
water deposits. However, there is one overlooked resource that will, by definition, also be available on any crewed mission to the Red Planet:
the crew themselves.

In an article published today in the journal Materials Today Bio,
scientists demonstrated that a common protein from blood plasma -- human
serum albumin - - could act as a binder for simulated moon or Mars dust to produce a concrete- like material. The resulting novel material, termed AstroCrete, had compressive strengths as high as 25 MPa (Megapascals),
about the same as the 20-32 MPa seen in ordinary concrete.

However, the scientists found that incorporating urea -- which is a
biological waste product that the body produces and excretes through
urine, sweat and tears -- could further increase the compressive strength
by over 300%, with the best performing material having a compressive
strength of almost 40 MPa, substantially stronger than ordinary concrete.

Dr Aled Roberts, from The University of Manchester, who worked on the
project, said that the new technique holds considerable advantages over
many other proposed construction techniques on the moon and Mars.

"Scientists have been trying to develop viable technologies to produce concrete-like materials on the surface of Mars, but we never stopped to
think that the answer might be inside us all along," he said.

The scientists calculate that over 500 kg of high-strength AstroCrete
could be produced over the course of a two-year mission on the surface
of Mars by a crew of six astronauts. If used as a mortar for sandbags
or heat-fused regolith bricks, each crew member could produce enough
AstroCrete to expand the habitat to support an additional crew member,
doubling the housing available with each successive mission.

Animal blood was historically used as a binder for mortar. "It is
exciting that a major challenge of the space age may have found its
solution based on inspirations from medieval technology," said Dr Roberts.

The scientists investigated the underlying bonding mechanism and found
that the blood proteins denature, or "curdle," to form an extended
structure with interactions known as "beta sheets" that tightly holds
the material together.

"The concept is literally blood-curdling," Dr Roberts explained.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Manchester. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Aled D. Roberts, Dominic R. Whittall, Rainer Breitling, Eriko
Takano,
Jonny J. Blaker, Sam Hay, Nigel S. Scrutton. Blood, sweat
and tears: extraterrestrial regolith biocomposites with
in vivo binders. Materials Today Bio, 2021; 100136 DOI:
10.1016/j.mtbio.2021.100136 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210913135713.htm

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